Zucchini

Zucchini in Australian English, or courgette in New Zealand and British English is a small summer squash. Its scientific name is "Cucurbita Pepo". The zucchini can either be yellow, green or light green, and generally has a similar shape to a ridged cucumber. On a culinary level zucchini is treated as a vegetable, which means it is usually cooked and presented as a savory dish or accompaniment.

History Of Zucchini

Zucchini, like all summer squash, has its ancestry in the Americas. Most summer squash -- including the closely related cocozelle, and marrow -― were introduced to Europe during the time of European colonization of the Americas. Early varieties usually included the names of nearby cities in their name. The alternate name Courgette comes from the French name of the fruit. It is a diminutive of courge, French for squash, and is used in France and the United Kingdom. "Zucca" is the Italian word for squash, the masculine diminutive plural "zucchini" is used in some areas of Italy, Australia, and the United States. The first records of zucchini in the United States date to the early 1920s. It was almost certainly brought over by Italian immigrants, and probably first emerged in the United States in California.

The zucchini vegetable is low in calories, approximately 15 food calories per 100 g fresh zucchini, and contains useful amounts of folate (24 mcg/100 g), potassium (280 mg/100 g) and vitamin A (115 mcg]/100 g). 1/2 cup of zucchini also contains 19% of the recommended daily amount of Manganese

Zucchini Health Benefits

As well as Zucchini containing large amounts of folate and potassium, the rind contains the nutrient beta-carotene, so to get the most out of your zucchini, you should also eat the rind. Eating plenty of flavonoid- and vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables helps to support the structure of capillaries.

Storing Zucchini

Store zucchini fresh and unwashed in a cold dry place, such as refrigerator drawer, for a maximum of around 3-5 days 

Zucchini Trivia

Botanically the zucchini is an immature fruit, being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower. Although its ancestry is in the Americas, zucchini is European in origin, the result of spontaneously occurring mutations, called "sports". Zucchini are easy to cultivate in temperate climates, allowing gardeners to shape them into inventive forms in vegetable growing competitions.

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